In the video for "Dear Diary," Michael M was portrayed as an animated cartoon character bouncing around nightclubs, clocking celebrities left and right. With boundless energy and a razor sharp wit, Michael is one of the few dance music artists who can live the lifestyle, joke about it, and bring you into the joke at the same time. As serious as his work can be taken, there is always a nudge and a wink to make you feel like you are part of the scene as well. Following up the successful mixshow and club records "Dear Diary" and "The Beat," Michael M unleashes "Downtown" with a variety of mixes that will satiate any discerning clubgoer.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: Let's start at the beginning. If you last name is
Rodriquez, what does the M stand for?
Michael M: The good things in life - music, money, men, and more of it.
RS: Very nice. When you're working on music, which comes first,
the music or the vocal?
Michael M: The vocal. I write the lyrics and the melody first and
then we do the music around it.
RS: When you say 'we,' I'm assuming you and Giuseppe D.
Michael M: Yes, and the new single "Downtown" is the first time I
get a co-producer credit.
RS: Wow, that's exciting. Giuseppe is known for a very
commercial New York commercial sound and you bring out a real
underground vibe from him. How do you have that effect on his
musicality?
Michael M: I've known Giuseppe for fifteen years and I think I'm
somewhat inspiring. When we work together, he takes from my funny
stuff, comedy, experiences, jokes and outrageousness. All I
generally go in with is a song - how the lyrics go and the sound and
feeling that I want to capture. I just inspire him to do that sound.
RS: Listening to your music, there's a real underground New York
vibe which is odd because you're based in Miami now.
Michael M: I'm originally from New York and though I've probably
lived here most of my life here in Miami, my heart is always in New
York. When I make club music, I'm thinking about the guy who's at the
after hours club at four o'clock in the morning – he's wasted and the
DJ is taking him on a journey and then boom, comes up with a song and
it's stuck in your head. That's something that I took from the New
York scene, from going to the Sound Factory, the Tunnel, and the
Palladium – from being one of those crazy club kids in the 90s.
RS: That's evident – even with just the lingo you use – "a bump"
in "Dear Diary" or going "downtown."
Michael M: I've been in the nightclub business since I was fourteen
years old and it's all I know. I decided a few years ago just to
write about my experiences and other peoples' experiences and the
truth is that this music is done for people who are going to go drop a
pill or do a bump or have a cocktail and dance all night long. I
realized when I did "Let You Have It," that I touched a chord with
that audience and so I've continued that route because it's kind of a
secret society. I go out and people kind of wink at me, like ah-ha, I
know what you're talking about. It's hilarious because it's like I'm
really speaking in code, as a lot of stuff I do is double-entendre.
"Downtown" is a precautionary tale of what's happened downtown and
there's different double-entendres in there so you could take it
however you want to. Whether people want to admit it or not, it goes
hand in hand, and I just happen to be the guy who's talking about it.
RS: With all the double-entendres and tongue in cheek stuff,
what's your reaction when something like "Dear Diary" explodes and
crosses over on to mainstream radio?
Michael M: It was very surprising. In an underground sense I had no
idea that it was possible that it would get on mainstream dance
stations. It's funny because you don't know when you're doing music
what's going to hit. I thought that "The Beat" would have been a
bigger crossover hit and that it would have been easier to have gotten
more airplay being that "Dear Diary" opened some doors, also closed
others. Some people were kind of like 'oh no, we can't play that.'
RS: Well when you wrote "Dear Diary," was it about a specific
event that you were referring to?
Michael M: When I wrote Dear Diary, it was one of the last songs I
wrote for that album. It was intended to be really more like an
interlude. The Dear Diary album is about life and things that happen
to you at clubs - peoples' love affairs with the DJ or a hook up you
had - and I needed a song that sort of tied it all together. I
figured let me do something that would be brutally honest and make me
a little bit uncomfortable that would tie all this in and that
everyone could relate to. At some point of the song you're like 'god,
I'm having a Dear Diary moment.' I know I have Dear Diary moments and
that song haunts me.
